Software-Defined Radio (SDR) is a large field of research, and is rapidly expanding in terms of capabilities and applications. As the number of SDR platforms, deployments, and use-cases grow, interoperability, compatibility, and software re-use becomes more difficult. Additionally, advanced SDR applications require more advanced hardware and software platforms to support them, necessitating intelligent management of resources and functionality. Realizing these goals can be done using the paradigms of Component-Based Design (CBD) and Service-Oriented Architectures (SOAs). Component-based design has been applied to the field of SDR in the past to varying levels of success. We discuss the benefits of CBD, and how to successfully use CBD for SDR. We assert that by strictly enforcing the principles of CBD, we can achieve a high level of independence from both the hardware and software platforms, and enable component compatibility and interoperability between SDR platforms and deployments. Using CBD, we also achieve the use-case of a fully distributed SDR, where multiple hardware nodes act as one cohesive radio unit. Applying the concept of service-orientation to SDR is a novel idea, and we discuss how this enables a new radio paradigm in the form of goal-oriented autonomic radios. We define SOAs in the context of SDR, explain how our vision is different than middle-wares like CORBA, describe how SOAs can be used, and discuss the possibilities of autonomic radio systems. This thesis also presents our work on the Cognitive Radio Open Source Systems (CROSS) project. CROSS is a free and open-source prototype architecture that uses CBD to achieve platform independence and distributed SDR deployments. CROSS also provides an experimental system for using SOAs in SDRs. Using our reference implementation of CROSS, we successfully demonstrated a distributed cognitive radio performing dynamic spectrum access to communicate with another SDR while avoiding an interferer operating in the spectrum. / Master of Science

Modern devices provide a multitude of services that use radio frequencies in continual smaller packages. This size leads to an antenna used to transmit and receive information being usually very inefficient and a lot of power is wasted just to be able to transmit a signal. To mitigate this problem a new antenna was introduced by Dr. Manteghi that is capable of working efficiently across a large band. The antenna achieves this large band by doing quick frequency hopping across multiple channels. In order to test the performance of this antenna against more common antennas, a software radio was needed, such that tested antennas can be analyzed using multiple modulations. This paper presents a software defined radio system that was designed for the purpose of testing the bit-error rate of digital modulations schemes using described and other antennas. The designed system consists of a DSP, an FPGA, and commercially available modules. The combination allows the system to be flexible with high performance, while being affordable. Commercial modules are available for multiple frequency bands and capable of fast frequency switching required to test the antenna. The DSP board contains additional peripherals that allows for more complex projects in the future. The block structure of the system is also very educational as each stage of transmission and reception can be tested and observed. The full system has been constructed and tested using simulated and real signals. A code was developed for communication between commercial modules and the DSP, bit error rate testing, data transmission, signal generation, and signal reception. A graphical user interface (GUI) was developed to help user with information display and system control. This thesis describes the software-defined-radio design in detail and shows test results at the end. / Master of Science

Increasing interest in ultra-wideband (UWB) communications has engendered the need for a test bed for UWB systems. An FPGA-based software-defined radio provides both post-fabrication definition of the radio and ample parallel processing power. This thesis presents the FPGA design for a software-defined radio targeted to impulse ultra-wideband signals. The system is capable of an effective sampling frequency of up to 8 G-samples/s using time interleaved sampling with eight 1-GHz ADCs. The system is also capable of transmitting UWB pulses using a transmitter board controlled by the FPGA. In this thesis, the FPGA design used to capture and export data from the eight ADCs is presented, along with two systems which make use of the transceiver: a pilot-based matched filter communications system, and a remote vital signs monitor. / Master of Science

The Global System for Mobile (GSM) cellular standard, having been in existence for over two decades, is the most widely deployed wireless technology in the world. While third generation networks and beyond, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) and Long Term Evolution (LTE), are undergoing extraordinary growth and driving a large share of current cellular development, technologies and deployments based on GSM are still dominant on a global scale and, like more recent standards, continue to evolve very rapidly. The software-defined radio (SDR) base station is one technology that is driving rapid change in cellular infrastructure. While commercial vendors have now embraced SDR, there is another movement that has recently gained prominence. That movement is the convergence of open source software and hardware with cellular implementation. OpenBTS, a deployable implementation of the GSM radio air interface, and the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP), a RF hardware platform, are two primary examples of such open source software and hardware products. OpenBTS and the USRP underlie three GSM features that are implemented and presented in this thesis. This thesis describes the extension of the OpenBTS software-defined radio transceiver in the three critical areas of user capacity, transmit signal integrity, and the embedded small form factor. First, an optimized wideband multicarrier implementation is presented that substantially increases the capacity beyond that of a single carrier system. Second, the GSM modulator is examined in depth and extended to provide performance that exceeds standards compliance by a significant margin. Third, operation of the GSM transceiver on an E100 embedded platform with ARM and fixed point DSP processors will be explored, optimized, and tested. / Master of Science

The advent of software radio technology has enabled radio developers to design and implement radios with great ease and flexibility. Software radios are effective in experimentation and development of radio designs. However, they have limitations when it comes to high-speed, high-throughput designs. This limitation can be overcome by introducing a hardware element to the software radio platform. Enhancing GNU Radio for Hardware Accelerated Radio Design project implements such a scheme by augmenting an FPGA co-processor to a conventional GNU Radio flow. In this thesis, this novel platform is evaluated in terms of performance of a radio design, as well as hardware and software system requirements. A simple and efficient Zigbee receiver design is presented. Implementation of this receiver is used as a proof-of-concept for the effectiveness and design methodology of the modified GNU Radio. This work also proposes a scheme to extend this idea for design of ultra-wideband radio systems based on multiband-OFDM. / Master of Science

Yes / The redesign of defined benefit pension schemes usually results in a substantial redistribution of wealth between age cohorts of members, pensioners, and the sponsor. This is the first study to quantify the redistributive effects of a rule change by a real world scheme (the Universities Superannuation Scheme, USS) where the sponsor underwrites the pension promise. In October 2011 USS closed its final salary scheme to new members, opened a career average revalued earnings (CARE) section, and moved to ‘cap and share’ contribution rates. We find that the pre-October 2011 scheme was not viable in the long run, while the post-October 2011 scheme is probably viable in the long run, but faces medium term problems. In October 2011 future members of USS lost 65% of their pension wealth (or roughly £100,000 per head), equivalent to a reduction of roughly 11% in their total compensation, while those aged over 57 years lost almost nothing. The riskiness of the pension wealth of future members increased by a third, while the riskiness of the present value of the sponsor’s future contributions reduced by 10%. Finally, the sponsor’s wealth increased by about £32.5 billion, equivalent to a reduction of 26% in their pension costs. / The full text will be available at the end of the publisher's embargo; Oct 16 2017

Yes / Purpose Flicker-defined form (FDF) stimuli have recently been adopted for visual field testing. A key difference between FDF and traditional perimetric stimuli is that the entire display background contains flickering dots. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the perception of FDF stimuli is influenced by lateral interactions involving regions beyond the stimulus border in young healthy observers. Methods Experiment 1 measured the effect of surround size and retinal eccentricity on the detection of the FDF contour. Psychometric functions were collected for surround diameters of 20°, 30° and 40°, and with stimuli centred at eccentricities of 0°, 10° and 20°. Experiment 2 measured the effect of target-surround temporal phase difference on apparent temporal contrast (flicker strength) of the target for both the FDF stimulus and a solid-field stimulus. Psychometric functions were collected for target-surround phase differences of 0°, 45°, 90°, 135° and 180°. Results Our results show a mild surround-suppression effect for FDF stimuli that is independent of surround size. Magnitudes of FDF surround suppression were consistent with the reduced temporal contrast energy of the stimulus compared to solid-field stimuli. Conclusion FDF stimuli necessarily have both flickering target and background. Our results suggest that visual field defects outside the target are unlikely to markedly influence the detection and perception of the FDF stimulus. Nevertheless, mild surround suppression of contrast arises for FDF stimuli, hence interactions between the background and the target area may influence FDF results in conditions that alter centre-surround perceptual effects.

我國65歲以上的老年人口，於民國82年底達總人口比率7.1％，正式邁入聯合國世界衛生組織所稱之高齡化社會（7％以上）。根據行政院經濟建設委員會之推估，65歲以上的老年人口比例於97年將達總人口數之10.15％，而於116年達總人口數之20.04％，人口老化速度明顯高於歐美國家，未來人口年齡結構將更趨於高齡化。隨著我國老年人口成長，社會安全制度日益受到重視，提供老人經濟安全之適度保障將成為我國未來福利發展之新方向。 本研究根據世界銀行提出的「三層保障」之老年經濟安全保障制度架構為基礎，說明我國公務人員退休制度在老年經濟安全保障方案之定位，闡述有關第二層保障之職業退休金制度理論演變，以釐清公務人員退休金之屬性及正當性，以助於退休制度及其財務規劃的擬定，期使整套制度循著適當的理論脈絡而發展。基於對退休金重要性的認知，先進國家早已發展成熟的職業退休金制度，而我國公務人員退休制度係建制於民國32年，實施50餘年，雖歷經4次修正，由於退休金給付方式仍屬於恩給制，除造成財政上重大負擔外，也產生退休給與偏低等嚴重問題，相關機關自62年開始研究改革，經過22年研議規劃完成，自84年7月1日實施退休新制，其與舊制最大的差異，是將退休經費籌措方式，由政府編列預算支付之恩給制，改由政府與公務人員共同撥繳費用成立退撫基金之共同提撥制，其餘退休對象、退休年資、退休條件、核給退休金原則大致維持不變，而退休金給付方式，也維持著確定給付制。經分析新退休制度之主要內容，實施迄今8年餘，有關改進退撫經費籌措方式，減輕政府財政負擔；及提高退撫所得，加強安老卹孤之改革目標，均已獲致初步成效。然而現階段面臨之問題，是退休經費導致各級政府財政負擔增加，且依公務人員退休撫卹基金管理委員會委託基金精算結果也顯示基金將面臨財務危機。 本研究係分析新制退休金給付方式，全面採行確定提撥制，對解決基金現存財務危機之可行性，為便於瞭解，爰敘明確定提撥制與確定給付制之意涵與優、缺點，及我國採用此兩種制度之適例。茲因退休金給付方式之政策變革方案，影響層面甚廣，方案之可行性如何，必須審慎探討與分析，爰就制度變革方案可行性列舉幾項評估面向進行分析。 例如為解決基金財務問題，除必須從經濟上分析外，茲因制度變革方案，必須符合現時的政治生態，始能確保政策推行之成果，方案的周詳與否，關係到該方案能否被接受及未來能否順利執行。由於退休舊制恩給制時期，因退休經費籌措方式不當，同樣存在著財政負擔之問題及缺失，其能於84年7月改革成功推動新退休制度，在政治方面包括政黨、民意機關、相關主管機關、公務人員，甚至學者等等支持的因素，在現今新制推行後，為解決財政問題，而將退休金給付方式，全面改採確定提撥制，是否同樣具有政治上支持的可能性，自須審慎分析；此外，退休金政策之改變，直接受影響的便是公務人員之退休所得，在退休金採行確定提撥制後，是否仍能達成新制推行時所設定之提高退撫所得、加強安老卹孤改革目標，應為關鍵之所在，由於職業退休金理論中之維持適當生活，係本研究在規劃退休金制度時所考量的重點，因退休後的生活水準應能與退休前相當，乃是探討退休金制度的核心，爰列為評估面向。又世界各國實施公務員退休金制度之經驗，包括採行確定給付制與確定提撥制例證，及面臨困境或改革之趨勢，均能在我國制訂退休金政策時有所啟示，故亦列為評估面向。本研究依據上述重要項目進行整體性評估，針對現存政經環境及職業特性，歸納我國新制退休金採行確定給付制或確定提撥制之個別效益，深入檢討何種給付方式較能維持公務人員權益？及退休前之生活水準？藉以說明並支持可行方案，以作為方案選擇之參據。最後提出本研究之結論與研究發現，進而本於基金能否永續經營，將是制度得否存續的關鍵，減少財務潛在危機，應具有合理的制度設計與有效的經營管理之基本條件，爰研擬若干建議措施，以降低財政問題的嚴重性，俾確保基金日後退休給付之能力，保障參加基金人員之權益。 / Taiwan has officially joined the “aging society” as defined by the WHO (up to 7% of the senior citizen ratio) because senior citizens aged over 65 accounted for 7.1% as of December 31, 1993. The official forecast by the Council of Economic Planning & Development of the Executive Yuan (the Cabinet) indicates that the senior population age over 65 will hit 10.15% of the total population by 2008 and even up to 20.04％ by the year 2027. Taiwan significantly outpaces their European and American counterparts in terms of the ratio of aging citizens. The aging society problems will likely turn from bad to worse in the future. In turn, the social security system is receiving mounting awareness and attention. The efforts to provide sound financial standing, secured social systems and protection to senior citizens will represent the new orientation of future welfare development in Taiwan. The present study takes the “Three-Level Assurance” oriented senior citizen financial security system proposed by the World Bank as the very grounds to elucidate the positioning of the Public Servant System in the senior citizen financial security system, annotate the evolution pension system of the Second-level Assurance to clarify the attribute and justification of the pension granted to civil servants. The present study is intended to help draw up a retirement system and financial planning so that the entire system will develop toward appropriate and justified orientation. With awareness of the importance of pension, those advanced countries have developed sound and mature professional pension systems for quite some time already. In the Republic of China, the retirement system for civil servants was initiated in 1943 and has been updated four times during the subsequent half century. The pension has been granted as a sort of benefit, or a government favor. As a result, pension to civil servants has become a heavy financial burden to the government and has been illogically insufficient. In response, the competent authorities concerned began initiating research for a reform of the pension system in 1973 and completed the research program 22 years later. The new retirement system was officially put into place on July 1, 1995. Between the old and new retirement system, the greatest difference is that the pension fund is jointly contributed by both the government and civil servants themselves in the new system instead of being solely budgeted by the government as a sort of government favor in the old system. Except for this, the aspects of the target retirees, seniority requirements, prerequisites for retirement and the principles to grant pension largely remain unchanged. Pension is paid in an unchanged “Defined Benefit Plan”. Now, with the new system in enforcement for over eight years, the new system proves to have primarily attained the goals in improving the method of pension fund raising, easing up the government’s financial burden, providing added pension to retirees and better safeguarding the senior civil servants. The problems currently confronting the pension practice are largely the mounting financial burden to the government as incurred by the retirement expenses. Meanwhile, the actual calculation outcome consigned by the Pension Management Committee indicates that the Pension Fund is on the verge of financial difficulties. The present study is to analyze the terms of pension payment to determine the feasibility there-of and to solve the present financial problem by means of the “Defined Contribution Plan”. For better a understanding into the issues, the present study elucidates the connotation, strengths and weaknesses of the “Defined Contribution Plan” and “Defined Benefit Plan”, as well as the precedents in Taiwan in adopting such two systems. Where a reform in the policy of pension payments will create quite an extensive impact, the feasibility of the policies calls for prudent analysis to enumerate a few feasible alternatives before further analyses into a few aspects of the assessment. To solve the financial difficulties in the Pension Fund, for instance, other than the economic analyses, the reform of the system must live up to the current political ecology before it can ensure the effects expected through the enforcement. Whether or not the policies are detailed and comprehensive enough will determine whether or not the policies are acceptable and whether or not they can be put into successful enforcement without a ensuing problems. During the extended practice under the old system while pension was budgeted as a sort of government favor, the pension system led to a heavy financial burden and shortcomings on the government. The new pension system was successfully put into enforcement in July 1995, thanks to the unanimous support from the political parties, congress, competent authorities concerned, civil servants as well as scholars. Now, in an effort to solve the current financial problems under the new system, the pension will be paid under the “Defined Contribution Plan”. Will the present reform receive equal political support? It calls for well-advised analyses. Besides, in a change in the pension system, the top impact will be upon the pension income to civil servants. After the pension is under the “Defined Contribution Plan”, will civil servants receive added pension income and receive better security in their retired life? These will be the key issues under the present study. The core consideration should aim at the retired lifestyle, which should be equivalent to the pre-retirement one. The hands-on experiences in enforcing civil servant pension systems accumulated in other countries the world over, including precedents of their practices in adopting the “Defined Benefit Plan” and “Defined Contribution Plan” will function as the constructive examples in Taiwan’s policymaking process regarding pension systems, and will be, therefore, be covered in the assessment in the present study as well. The present study will launch an overall assessment on the aforementioned key issues. Aiming at the existent political and economic climate as well as the professional characteristics, the present study will generalize the individual effects and benefits under “Defined Benefit Plan” or “Defined Contribution Plan” under the new retirement system to find out the optimal terms of payment to assure maximum possible benefits to civil servants, safeguard the quality of their retired lifestyle to be equivalent to the pre-retirement lifestyle. The findings and conclusions yielded through the present study will function as handy reference materials for policymaking. By submitting the findings and conclusions so yielded, the study will help the policymakers draw up sound enforcement rules to ensure the sustained existence of the Pension Fund, alleviate the potential financial crises through reasonable design of systems and effective management as the very fundamentals. Further by offering constructive proposals, the study will help the competent authorities of the government solve the financial difficulties to ensure sustained sound competence of pension payments and to, in turn, safeguard the Pension Fund and the Fund’s beneficiaries.

By the end of the twentieth century, the generous German public pay-as-you-go pension system had been struggling with a serious deficit due to the country’s ageing population. In 2001, the German government enacted the “Riester” pension reform, named after Mr. Walter Riester, the Labour Minister brokering it, which reduced the level of publicly provided pensions, and strengthened the funded occupational and private pillars in order to replace the loss in retirement income. This thesis investigates the role and structure of occupational pensions during the Riester-reform and in its aftermath, using an economic geography perspective. In doing so, it discusses the role of trade unions and employer associations (social partners) in moulding the structure of the occupational system, and investigates the geography of occupational pensions both at employer and at employee level. Empirically, the thesis is based on an in-depth interview with Mr. Walter Riester, and a unique, proprietary data-set of a German occupational pension provider, containing information on 332 thousand employees and over 12 thousand employers. The results show that the internal division of social partners played a critical role in leaving occupational pensions voluntary, but they have been successful in setting standards on the occupational pension market by means of collective bargaining. Employers and employees show systematic spatiotemporal patterns in their pension-related decisions, confirming the importance of local relationships and local contexts in implementing social partners’ measures and in the transformation of the welfare state. It is finally pointed out that the Riester-reform was a part of a gradual transition, which has been reducing employers’ autonomy in order to reinforce the social role of occupational pensions. To achieve that and to catalyse the reform process, employers’ and employees’ risk exposure has been mitigated in the hope that old-age poverty can be avoided.

摘要 傳統由家庭負責的老年經濟安全在老年人口日益增加，子女數目的減少及產業結構改變的衝擊下已漸漸的暴露出問題的嚴重性。其責任也漸漸地由家庭轉移到整體社會。世界各國政府多將如何確保老年經濟安全列為主要的施政內容，我國自然也不例外。證諸已開發國家的實際情況，大多以多層次的年金體系（multi－tier pension system）提供老年經濟安全完整的保障。近年來也有多位學者發表文章以探討如何利用這種多層次的年金架構達成各種社會及經濟目標。 就我國現行的狀況來看，即將開辦的國民年金由於給付水準偏低，只能對老年生活提供基本的保障，且由於計劃成員包含了全體國民，所規定的內容與給付的年金無法完全滿足個別成員的不同偏好，對採行確定給付制的公共計劃來說，由於給付與提撥之間並沒有明確關聯，若提撥率太高的話，對勞動誘因與產出將會有不利影響，再加上政府財政負擔與政治力干預的考量，在在都顯示出了職業退休金制度在老年生活保障上的不可或缺性。 相對於基礎年金計劃，政府對職業退休金計劃的介入程度通常較淺。政府通常藉著租稅優惠鼓勵企業提供，員工參與退休金計劃。此外，由於計劃中存在著訊息不對稱、外部性與獨占力等會造成市場失靈的因素，這使得政府有必要以管制者的身分對此失靈現象加以矯正。透過政府的管制尚可增進計劃的安全性與公平性。就目前多數OECD國家的管制經驗來看，管制的內容可以區分為資產、負債與其他方面三類。 我國目前雖然已經有完整的規範勞工退休的法令，但由於法規內容陳義過高，在實際情況下，有很多規定並無法落實，有很多規定則不合時宜。例如，我國法令並未強制企業以合理的方法對退休金進行提撥，以致普遍存在著提撥不足的現象。在計劃清償債務能力之保證、賦益權與可攜性與訊息揭露方面之管制現行法令往往不合時宜，甚至沒有規定。這使得大多數勞工退休後的生活無法獲得確實的保障，雇主也因為低估退休金成本而忽略退休金之潛在負擔，以致對將來的營運方針無法作整體的規劃。對於上述這些管制方面的問題，正在行政院審議中的「勞工退休金條例」草案已經為受勞基法規範行業的雇主與本國籍勞工規劃出一個可行的解決方案。但由於該條例尚未生效且適用的對象與範圍皆受限制，因此，並無法完全解決目前的難題。 由於上述的管制對員工退休金權益保障的落實有非常重要的影響，目前國內已有的研究很少且不夠完整，本文的主旨在以OECD選樣國家歷年來在勞工退休所得保障方面所遭遇的困難，及其在解決問題的對策方面所做的努力來作為改善我國勞工退休所得保障制度的借鏡。並透過對現行退休制度與「勞工退休金條例」草案的比較以檢視問題獲得改善的程度。 目錄 第一章 緒論------------------------------------------------------1 第一節 研究動機與研究目的---------------------------------------1 第二節 研究範圍與研究限制---------------------------------------3 第三節 研究大綱-------------------------------------------------4 第二章 職業退休（年）金計劃的必要性--------------------------6 第一節 老人福利需求與經濟安全保障的重要性-----------------------6 第二節 現階段老年經濟安全所面臨的威脅---------------------------7 第三節 老年年金的功能與性質------------------------------------12 第四節 職業退休（年）金制度應該扮演的角色----------------------14 第三章 職業退休（年）金計劃的歷史演進及種類----------------21 第一節 職業退休金的歷史演進與發展-------------------------------21 第二節 職業退休金計劃的種類-------------------------------------22 第三節 確定給付計劃與確定提撥計劃-------------------------------25 第四節 選樣OECD國家之職業退休金現況----------------------------39 第四章 政府對退休金計劃在資產方面的管制--------------------47 第一節 政府對退休金基金加以管制的必要性-------------------------47 第二節 政府在提撥基金方面的管制措施-----------------------------48 第三節 政府對賸餘資產所有權歸屬的管制---------------------------68 第四節 政府對投資組合的管制-------------------------------------70 第五章 政府對退休金計劃在負債及其他方面之管制-------------76 第一節 政府對計劃清償退休金債務的能力保險之管制-----------------76 第二節 政府對退休金計劃在賦益權及可攜性方面之管制---------------85 第三節 政府對退休金給付的指數化之管制---------------------------92 第四節 其他與政府管制有關的問題---------------------------------93 第六章 我國勞工退休（年）金管制問題之檢討-------------------103 第一節 我國勞工退休所得保障制度之沿格-------------------------103 第二節 我國現行勞工退休金制度所面臨之問題---------------------106 第三節 勞工退休金條例草案內容分析-----------------------------121 第七章 結論與建議---------------------------------------------125 參考文獻--------------------------------------------------------128 附表-----------------------------------------------------------------------133 圖表目錄 圖（1-1）本文架構圖------------------------------------------------------------------5 表（2-1）台灣地區人口結構與扶養比之變遷--------------------11 表（2-2）台灣地區勞動人口比例--------------------------------11 表（2-3）職業退休（年）金制度應該扮演的角色---------------20 表（3-1）確定給付計劃與確定提撥計劃之比較------------------36 表（3-2）選樣國家公共年金與職業年金之給付水準-------------39 表（4-1）選樣國家政府對退休金計劃在資產方面管制之比較----74 表（5-1）選樣國家政府對退休金計劃在負債方面管制之比較---100 表（6-1）民國73至87年間我國就業人口之轉業情形----------105 表（6-2）勞基法新增規定之內容-------------------------------105 表（6-3）我國現行退休金計劃的基金提撥方式-----------------107 表（6-4）近年來勞退基金各項用途及獲益情形-----------------117 表（6-5）民國七十六至民國八十四年各基金之績效評估表-----118 表（6-6）勞退基金與壽險業之投資限制比較-------------------118 表（6-7）勞退基金之資金運用比率表--------------------------118 表（6-8）台灣人壽保險資金運用比率表------------------------119 表（6-9）選樣國家與我國對退休金計劃管制之比較------------120 表（6-10）我國之退休金現制與退休金條例草案之比較---------124 附表一-----------------------------------------------------------133 附表二 每年薪資增加率---------------------------------------